Hello everyone, and welcome to my place in cyberspace. My name is John Victor Ivan aka Scythewraith / Bladeghost I came up with the name of Scythewraith way back in '98 to have some kind of gaming handle. I based it from the Predator (yautja) from the movies as being a wraith with blades (scythes). also later I adapted the name Bladeghost which has a similar meaning. The Predator was a creature that has a cloaking ability like a ghost with wrist blades and that is where I came up with the name for my gaming and development identity since I was fascinated by it's technology. at the time I was also developing game levels for Aliens vs. Predator ge using the Inteng engine for that game and learned lots about custom content for games using 3D Studio max.
To begin with I have been involved with creative endeavors since I was very young at age 4 when I built my first plastic model kit. I think it was a tall ship with rigging and the lot. since then I've built an incredible amount of models since then, practically every one on the shelf. From : airplanes, cars, boats, tanks, figures, spacecraft, rockets, ships, submarines, and other stuff. This was all during the late'60's , '70's, '80's and some in the '90's when I had time , it was a great time for innovation through those years, especially at a time when there was rotary phones and typewriters. none of what we have today.
Back then I did want to get into technology we have now but wasn't available then. oh well at least I'm glad I can enjoy what is available now. Had to wait and do other things like learn bass guitar and play in a band. but even back then in'72 there were great toys to play with and for gaming I had a Magnavox Odyssey with a light gun. I enjoyed the light gun more as it reminded me of a James Bond gadget more than anything. I also did lots of drawing and painting not only on models but on canvas and paper too. I felt that drawing with a pen instead of a pencil would help me draw better as with a pen you can't really erase any mistakes and therefore have to do a good job right from the beginning.
Colored pencils were another medium I enjoyed as it taught me how to blend colors more fluidly with some neat effects in design. After came airbrushing, for me it came quite naturally as it was just like using a pen for painting.When I was in High School the art class offered airbrushing and I started from there. since then I gone on to create some murals on cars, guitars walls, and gone on professionally to work with sign painting. at that time I began using larger production spray guns to paint larger works and for a time painted back-lit billboards. Even the sign shops I worked at I did have to prime then paint not only the enclosures but the sign faces as well. I learned a lot about art doing that kind of commercial work that traditional education could never offer. It was great in that every job was different and that kept it interesting instead doing of the same thing all the time.
So artistic design and creation have always kept me busy in some form or another. getting back to gaming a friend had a sega genesis with sonic the hedgehog, well that did it now, I was rehooked and got one myself. From there came an Atari Jaguar and the first time I played Aliens vs. Predator and Doom. After that I saw Panzer Dragoon and just had to get a Sega Saturn, five hundred dollars later ..then a Playstation,N64, PC and an X-Box. It was in the mid '90's that the artwork were getting better in games and instead of pixilated representations of what were supposed to be visuals, after the art started getting better and it interested me in doing art work on the PC computer instead of traditionally with paint/solvents pens and pencils. painting on the computer is really great in that there's no mess and no smell from the solvents. or cleaning up all the cut up stencils I made using an x-acto knife. This was just cool, now if I had a PC back in '72 that would've been something.
Consoles were still fun but you couldn't really do anything creative with them besides play movies, games and music on them so I felt the PC was a good place to get creative in designing and making digital art. Then came playing tons of games ,mostly PC and the ones that had editing and mod capabilities really peaked my interest. From there I had gone on to learn some neat programs on a 2D platform then came 3D. Now I was really digging this as I was able to make some amazing artwork that only could be done digitally. So I practiced every night until I had a good understanding of what was possible.All this while my day job was an interesting place to be also. during this time I had landed a position becoming an anatomical engineer for one of the most prestigious mannequin manufacturers in the world. Hindsgaul Mannequins Based in Belgium and affiliated in Toronto Canada I had become a part of a most unique occupation repairing and refinishing mannequins using fiberglass resins and latex based paints maintaining display figures for the retail industry for all across Canada.
What was cool about it was not only were these large models I was working with but very realistic human form models. should I ever become a character artist the experience I learned from it was most educational to say the least. I did this for 12 years and enjoyed it very much, unfortunately my employer from there retired and closed down after the market dried up. Then a few months later I was most fortunate to be hired by Rockstar Games Toronto and worked there for almost a year using what I learned evenings creating content with 3D Studio Max becoming a level artist on the project The Warriors for the Playstation 2. Working at R* taught me a few things I'll always appreciate in the way some things get done.
Since then I've taught at a private collage for a year instructing creative game content creation to a class of about 20 students. It was really tough for me to adjust from working on my own for 12 years to being in a group environment where nobody would listen to a classroom where everybody listened to everything I said..it was still a great experience, Currently looking for new employment.What the future will hold who knows, as I will still try and continue to be digitally creative keeping my imagination alive and ticking.
As for being in a band, been there done that too it didn't really work out as well as drawing and painting. I still enjoy making visual content more than aural content more so anyways, yet I'd like to be able to do it again one day. being a starving artist literally that isn't dead yet , It's been an incredible journey so far that will one day hopefully get better and my dreams actually come true one day being able to work with a group of individuals where my talents can truly shine. well that's enough about me for now... happy, sad, good, bad, trying to keep it all together best I can with what I got left and so onward we go.....Best Wishes All and thanks for taking the time to get to know a little bit about me and some of my work a little more. Thanks everyone! Take Care , Rock On! Always ........ /_\ John Victor Ivan
